Lost in the Cañon   By: Alfred R. Calhoun

By ALFRED R. CALHOUN,

Author of "Cochise," "Excelsior," "The Californians," etc., etc.

ILLUSTRATED.

NEW YORK: A. L. BURT, PUBLISHER.

Copyright 1888, by A. L. Burt.

[Illustration: Sam succeeded in guiding the raft to a ledge of sloping rocks. ]

CONTENTS

CHAPTER I. A REMARKABLE CAMP. CHAPTER II. LOOKING BACKWARD AND FORWARD. CHAPTER III. SAM'S TRIALS BEGIN. CHAPTER IV. A PERILOUS SITUATION. CHAPTER V. AT HURLEY'S GULCH. CHAPTER VI. WHY THE PAPERS WERE NOT BROUGHT. CHAPTER VII. THE WONDERFUL VOYAGE BEGINS. CHAPTER VIII. MR. WILLETT AND HANK TIMS. CHAPTER IX. A FRUITLESS EFFORT. CHAPTER X. A NIGHT OF AWFUL GLOOM. CHAPTER XI. A TRYING SITUATION. CHAPTER XII. THE VOYAGE IS RESUMED. CHAPTER XIII. WHIRLED AWAY. CHAPTER XIV. ORDER AND DISORDER. CHAPTER XV. THE PROVISIONS ALL GONE. CHAPTER XVI. DANGER AHEAD. CHAPTER XVII. MR. WILLETT LEARNS THE NEWS. CHAPTER XVIII. IN THE RAPIDS. CHAPTER XIX. AFLOAT AGAIN. CHAPTER XX. THE TRIAL BEGINS. CHAPTER XXI. A BREAK IN THE CLOUDS. CHAPTER XXII. "JOY! JOY! IT IS ULNA AGAIN!" CHAPTER XXIII. THE TRIAL IN PROGRESS. CHAPTER XXIV. OUT OF THE DEPTHS. CHAPTER XXV. FROM SAFETY INTO DANGER. CHAPTER XXVI. THE TRIAL ENDS. CHAPTER XXVII. THE APACHES HAVE THEIR WAY. CHAPTER XXVIII. A BOLD MOVE. CHAPTER XXIX. THE VERDICT AND SENTENCE. CHAPTER XXX. SURPRISE FOR HURLEY'S GULCH. CHAPTER XXXI. HOW IT FARED WITH SAM AND HIS FRIENDS. CHAPTER XXXII. IN GREATER PERIL STILL. CHAPTER XXXIII. IN A TRAP. CHAPTER XXXIV. A BRIEF TRUCE AND WHAT FOLLOWED IT. CHAPTER XXXV. A NIGHT BATTLE. CHAPTER XXXVI. TO THE RESCUE. CHAPTER XXVII. SAM'S DEVOTION IS REWARDED. CHAPTER XXXVIII. THE LAST, BUT NOT THE LEAST IMPORTANT. LOST. FATE OF AN ENTRAPPED BEAR. A FIGHT IN THE WOODS.

LOST IN THE CAÑON.

CHAPTER I. A REMARKABLE CAMP.

The scene of this narrative is laid in Southwestern Colorado, and the date is so recent that boys living out there at that time are only just beginning to think themselves young men and it is really astonishing how soon boys leap into vigorous manhood in that wild, free land.

"We's 'bleeged to hab 'im, for dah ain't de least scrap ob meat in de camp!"

This stirring information was shouted by a stout negro boy of fifteen or sixteen years of age, who, with a long, rusty, single barrel shot gun in his arms, stood at the base of a towering mass of bare rocks, and looked eagerly up at two other youths creeping along the giddy heights, and evidently in eager search of something that had escaped them, but which they were determined to overtake.

The lithe form, long black hair, and copper colored skin of one of the young hunters bespoke him an Indian of the purest type. He wore a close fitting buckskin dress, and slung at his back was a short repeating rifle.

The other youth up the rocks, though bronzed on the hands and face to a color as dark as the young Ute's, had the blue eyes and curly yellow hair that told of a pure white ancestry. His name was Samuel Willett, and though not much more than sixteen years of age, his taller form and more athletic build made him look several years the senior of his red and black companions.